Invited guests and major donors took the first tours of the H. Michael Weaver Building in Greensboro Tuesday evening, June 20. A portrait of Weaver, a Greensboro community leader, was unveiled in the lobby of the building, which will house the new Elon School of Law. Details...
Elon President Leo M. Lambert welcomed approximately 100 guests to the event and thanked the Greensboro community for its support of the law school project.
“We are here tonight in a great and noble quest, the creation of a new law school for Elon University right here in downtown Greensboro,” said Lambert. “Very few great things happen without support from many people, and all of you have supported and believed in our vision for this school.”
Law School Dean Leary Davis said faculty, staff and students are looking forward to the school’s opening on Aug. 10. To date, 105 students have confirmed they will enroll in the school’s first class.
“These students and our faculty have been attracted to this law school by Elon’s vision,” Davis said. “They look forward to contributing positively to the outstanding reputation of Elon University.”
Jim Melvin, president of the Joseph M. Bryan Foundation, introduced Weaver. Melvin said Weaver’s lifetime of leadership, service and generosity to the Greensboro community sets an outstanding example for future Elon School of Law students.
“Mike Weaver has an outstanding reputation in this community,” Melvin said. “He earned it because of a lifetime of giving back to his fellow man. A lot of people make money, and a lot of people are successful, but very few people are rich in the way our friend Mike Weaver is.”
Weaver thanked those who made it possible for his name to be linked with the law school.
“To be tied into Greensboro and the law school is wonderful,” said Weaver, who recalled that his father’s office was located next door on Friendly Ave. “It is really nice to be associated with a building that promotes the rule of law.”
The portrait of Weaver will hang in the building’s main lobby. Artist Chip Holton of Lexington, N.C., was commissioned to paint the portrait. Holton has designed and constructed exhibits for national history museums, including the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. His murals can be seen in several Greensboro restaurants, as well as the new Kathleen Clay Edwards Library.
Renovation work is almost complete on the H. Michael Weaver Building, the former Greensboro Central Public Library. A $6 million renovation has transformed the building into a four-floor, 84,000-square-foot showcase for legal education.
Law school administrators and faculty will move into the building later this week, and shelving for the library will also be installed this week and next week. Mitch Counts, associate dean for library and information services, says books and other materials will be placed in the library beginning in early July.
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